BriefingAsia-Pacific

Israel Resists Calls to Suspend Military Sales to Myanmar, an Old Friend in Arms

Israel Resists Calls to Suspend Military Sales to Myanmar, an Old Friend in Arms
Members of the Islamic Movement in Israel, a political movement for Arab Muslims inside Israel, protest Myanmar’s treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 11, 2017 (AP photo by Oded Balilty).

YANGON, Myanmar—As Israel’s High Court weighs a ban on weapons sales to Myanmar, where the United Nations’ top human rights official has denounced a military campaign as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” Israel’s Defense Ministry—no stranger to isolation—is unrepentant.

In the latest outburst of violence in Myanmar’s volatile Rakhine state, the military’s blistering crackdown in response to attacks in August from Rohingya insurgents has triggered an unprecedented exodus. More than 500,000 Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, have fled into Bangladesh.

International condemnation has been swift, with rights groups exerting pressure on Western nations to cut military-to-military engagement. The United States and the United Kingdom have already backpedaled on planned military trainings as allegations of atrocities mount.

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